I'm a Celeb returns with 11.6 million viewers

According to unofficial overnight figures, the first show from the jungle with celebrities such as boxer David Haye and MP Nadine Dorries, kicked off with a peak audience of 11.6 million viewers across ITV1, ITV1 HD and ITV1 +1.

Last night’s peak audience comes in just short of the first episode last year, which attracted 11.8 million viewers across the three ITV1 channels, although the share for both shows' peak audience was 43% of TV viewers.

Over the course of last night’s show between 9pm and 10.30pm ‘I’m a Celeb' had an average audience of 10.25 million viewers across ITV1 and ITV1 HD, a 40.6% share. An additional 344,600 tuned in on ITV1 +1.

Last night’s average audience trounced 2011’s first episode of ‘I’m a Celeb’, which had an average audience of 8.9 million.

Other celebrities in this year’s ‘I’m a Celeb’ include ‘Birds of a Feather’ actress Linda Robson, comedian and actor Brian Conley, and former ‘EastEnders’ actress Charlie Brooks.

The BBC’s own celebrity talent show, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, continued its winning streak by beating ITV’s 'The X Factor' in terms of average audience on both Saturday and Sunday nights this weekend.

‘The X Factor Results’ show last night, which brought the departure of District3, had an average audience of 8.88 million viewers, a 33.3% share, between 8pm and 10pm on ITV1 and ITV1 HD. An additional 185,400 watched the show on ITV1 +1.

Meanwhile, Fern Britton’s departure from ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ was seen by an average audience of 10.44 million viewers, a 40.4% share, between 7.15pm and 8pm across BBC One and BBC One HD last night.

On Saturday night, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ had an average audience of 10.35 million across the standard and HD channels, while ‘The X Factor’ had an average audience of 8.12 million (or 8.41 million including ITV1+1).